# What would be the best form of Government for a Post Saddam Iraq?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-best-form-of-government-for-a-post-saddam-iraq/166061>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 2, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-best-form-of-government-for-a-post-saddam-iraq/166061 "2003-04-02T22:06:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-best-form-of-government-for-a-post-saddam-iraq/166061/21 "2003-04-04T12:59:11Z")

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> [@](#):
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> If we’re serious about upholding the ideals of democracy and people selecting a government of their choice, then yeah. Otherwise it’s democracy with footnotes (“You can vote for any candidate you want – as long as it’s someone we approve of”), which isn’t democracy at all.

Well, I’m not sure its supposed to be democracy “right at the start” of things. It will probably be a gradual withdrawal. First, we’ll eliminate all of Saddam’s government flunkies.

> [@](#):
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> To me, the two biggest drawbacks with implementing a democratic system seem to be that a people who were just bombed would tend to have a very negative view of the ones who bombed them, and would vote accordingly. A crippling 10-year trade embargo prior to that doesn’t help either. This might get better if elections aren’t held until after the US/UK/UN have had time to regain some trust by rebuilding the country. On the other hand, the longer you wait before elections, the more it’ll will seem like it won’t happen and that Iraq will remain under western rule indefinitely. It won’t be easy to find the optimal time to minimise public animosity.

I dunno. Iraqis have no love of Saddam outside of a few pockets of Baathist support, and we faced arguably worse circumstances in the Japanese occupation. Iraq is less stable than Japan, but I still thinkthis has been blown out of proportion.

Personally, I get the idea Chalabi is more of a token figurehead than anything else. He’s there to say that Iraq isn’t going to be a military protectorate.

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**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-best-form-of-government-for-a-post-saddam-iraq/166061/22 "2003-04-04T20:18:20Z")

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The more I read about this guy (Ahmad Chalabi) The more I like him. Aside from his embezzlement conviction in Jordan, this guy seems to be a great political leader. I did have reservations about his bein out of touch wit the Iraqi people since Chalabi has been out of Iraq since 1958. However, given the complete and brutal control that Saddam had on the people of Iraq, anyone would be out of touch with the Iraqi people. These people are going to be paranoiaic, untrusting, fearful and confused. They will need anot of cajoling and positive reinforcements to trust anyone.

[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle\_east/july-dec02/after\_saddam\_12-16.html](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec02/after_saddam_12-16.html)

I dont know if having the State department and the CIA against you is a good thing or a bad thing with regard to a Post Saddam govt. Both havent had a good record with dealing with Saddam. This Chalabi guy is something new.

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